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The Directorate
"Semper Pax, Semper Secura, Semper Paratum" Peace, Forever Security, Forever Prepared - Official Motto of the Directorate The Directorate is the central government which exerts control and influence over the vast majority of the human-settled galaxy by the dawn of the 5th Millenium, C.E.. It is a complex socio-political entity directly controlling well over a million inhabited star systems and politically influencing thousands more. The Directorate Military is a vast entity employing billions, if not trillions, of souls: plying the dark of space in massive warships dozens and even hundreds of kilometers in length and doing battle on a hundred planetary surfaces with blazing nuclear fire and unspeakable destruction. Although nominally a representative democracy seated on the cold high-gravity world of Kaliban, the Directorate is a vast bureaucracy-choked machine regarded by much of the human intelligentsia as an unfeeling dictatorship. Its vast regulatory agencies and the awesome power of its military exert control over approximately one fourth of the Galaxy's total area, although in reality there are many inhabited worlds within its own claimed domain over which it holds little, if any, sway. Nevertheless, the Directorate swallows the lives of hundreds - if not thousands - of men and women on a daily basis to perpetuate its existence. Overview Name: Human Directorate Humanitatis Total Inhabited Star Systems: Approx. 2.5 million with sizeable permanent populations, with tens of millions having some degree of sapient habitation always, but not universally, human Population: Unknown 1,000,000 worlds with a population exceeding 1 billion Official Language(s): Directorate Latin different from Classical Latin, different alphabet Official Alphabet: alphabetum humanitas Alphabet of Humanity Major Languages: English, Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, local dialects and languages Major Religion(s): Local paganism, Buddhism, Islam, Catholicism* - note that the majority of the populace is Atheist / Agnostic / non-Religious Government: Authoritarian Unitary Republic with tricameral legislature Head-of-State: Consul / Consule form Head-of-Government: Minister-President Legislative Body: Parliamentum Humanitatis of Humanity Economy: Mixed Economy Currency: Librae, Solidi, Denarii L.S.D. - same as Ancient Rome National Anthem: Ode to Joy of Beethoven's 9th instrumental - http://www.navyband.navy.mil/anthems/ANTHEMS/EU%20Long.mp3 Official Ideology: Humanism, Jingoism, Manifest Destiny Military: Directorate Army, Navy, Special Assault Warfare Corps, various System Defense Forces, Office of Central Intelligence Rights & Freedoms The people of the Directorate enjoy de jure protection of their rights, liberties and freedoms in line with the Developed World democracies of the 21st Century, through the Thirteen Tables on the Rights of Sapient Beings simply called the Rights of Sapience. This document protects the individual and collective freedoms & rights of all sapient beings equally, not just humans. It provides things such as a Right to Work, Right to Health public universal healthcare, Right to Trial, Right to Vote and Assemble, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Thought, etc. In practical terms, however, the Directorate government can convict, oppress and execute anybody it chooses, because sedition and anti-establishmentarian behavior, thoughts and expressions are legally punishable. Basically, the Directorate government has the legal freedom to accuse anybody it so chooses of thinking or acting wrongly, and may disperse violently any protest or assembly in the name of "security". Prohibition of capital punishment exists as pure legal fiction - virtually every person incarcerated on a life sentence, unless paroled is very unlikely, will be executed once they can no longer be of use to the State as a source of labor. Anybody brought before the court against the Directorate government itself is essentially guarenteed of being convicted. However, these people are often not convicted for the reasons that the Directorate government is actually incarcerating them. For example, in the event of a domestic terrorist attack, the Office of Central Intelligence will swiftly find and arrest anybody with any connection, however remote, to the guilty party. OCI will almost inevitably determine that most of them - whether actually guilty of involvement or not - should be locked up as a precaution. All of them will then be convicted of some kind of ideological- or opinion-oriented offense and incarcerated. Governance The Directorate does not exert political authority over its member worlds in quite the same way one would think, compared with a modern 21st Century government. Because of the vast distances involved, the sheer number of people being governed and the immense size of solar systems and planets, the central bureaucracies of Kaliban simply cannot control its expansive domain directly. The degree to which policies can be enforced within a member star depend on the ability to back them with brute strength through military means, the good will of the local governor and the pacificity of the populace. As such, while Directorate control over its member worlds is quite pervasive and strong, it is mostly indirect in nature and not necessarily consistent from star to star. One of the most important ways in which the Directorate controls its member worlds is through dependence. Because of the vast amounts of resources required to construct space-faring vessels large enough to navigate the interstellar void effectively and economically, few private firms are able to manage the feat and those that can often still rely on the state-subsidized Mercantile Charter Guilds for moving goods about Directorate space. Thus, without the support of the central government, interstellar trade would be made effectively impossible. In this way, a Star System, once brought into the fold, can be "tied" into the Directorate by being made increasingly reliant on imports, through rapid industrialization and integration into the overall Directorate economy. Large numbers of immigrants from other, densely-populated worlds are brought in to spread pro-Directorate culture and customs. Directorate Latin is made the sole official language of all local governments and institutions, resulting in the vast majority of the Directorate's populace being at least bilingual. Intensive propaganda campaigns, slow but relentless acquisition or subjugation of local media outlets and compulsory military service further insare local populations, while the Office of Central Intelligence systematically brings all local law enforcement under its control and massively ramps up numbers. The OCI also ruthlessly keeps tabs on, screens and, if necessary, bribes or coerces local officials - elected or otherwise - to keep them friendly, or at least subservient, to their Kalibanite Masters. And finally, regular tours and parades by local elements of the Army, Navy and even Janissary Corps are staged to remind the populace of the futility - or suicide - in defying the Directorate.